I can't see any reason to get a kindle since I hardly buy any books to read anyway. I do buy gardening books and cook books but those have illustrations that I would want anyway. I get all my reading books from the library or sometimes from a bookswap or used book sale. So my question to all the kindle or similar electronic book users is- did you previously buy lots of reading books and now get them for cheaper or what is the deal?

WHen we were in Europe, we watched on Eurosport. It was in German, I think, but the scores are the scores and the names aren't English necessarily anyway. We much preferred the coverage on Eurosport since they showed more sports and hardly any stories.

We have been in both. The education my girls received have been similar. Both have been worthy. On the other hand, I am in a co-op that is in in 17th year. The pay option had been in place for 9 years. I guess I would consider my finances and talk to the organizers and go with what you sense is best.

I think it is a form of child neglect to live so completely off the grid so that your kids don't have birth certificate. They may decide not to live like that when they are adults. They won't even be able to prove citizenship. How awful.

I just joined the paperbook swap and started listing my homeschooling books (mostly children's literature for literature based programs like Sonlight). I am realizing that I don't have little ones and need to do purging, purging and more purging.

I was hospitalized last year for cellulitis. I will pray for your husband,

I haven't met unschoolers who object to their children asking for workbooks, textbooks, etc. IN the last place I lived, I was involved in three homeschooling groups. Two had a mix of very organized homeschoolers all the way to very relaxed. The third had many, many unschoolers. They did all kinds of structured programs if their kids requested them. They would laugh and talk about how Johnnie wanted to do workbooks or something else very structured. We talked more about resources like cool fieldtrip ideas or contests and less about actual curriculum.

My youngest is an extreme perfectionist. She started reading Forg and Toad books and she didn't consider herself reading. She went on to harder and longer books, Flat Stanley, etc, - nope, she wasn't reading according to her. It finally took Harry Potter for her to consider herself a reader and she was nine or ten by then. SHe was a reader much earlier, of course, but it was interesting to see how she didn't consider herself one until she could read anything she wanted.

Here is a website for accredited architecture programs. There are a few in NC- NC state and UNC- CHarlotte. http://architecture.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=architecture&cdn=homegarden&tm=22&f=20&su=p284.9.336.ip_&tt=5&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.naab.org/architecture_programs/

Well you don't have to fill it out but the fine is between 100 and 5000 dollars so I would go ahead and fill it out. Take it up with your congressman if you don't like their laws.

The housing prices are continuing to drop because they were way to high in many areas. When the average income in some areas is 50K and the the average home price was 350K, there is a disconnect. Add to that that the unemployment numbers are not telling the whole picture. They are a lot worse than 10%. That is because they don't count all the people who have gone back to school or who were rehired but at much, much lower wages. I am saying that many people are earning half of what they used to make. Since the house prices were too high to being with considering the incomes (and they sold the houses to people using all sorts of creative financing or convincing buyers that incomes will always rise and having a mortgage that eats up 40% of your salary is only temporary), they can only go down. I have met people here who have bought homes recently due to the tax break. They are still making many of the same mistakes. Buying homes that are temporary but with long term mortgages, buying homes they are struggling to afford, that type of thing.

It is intrusive but the information is aggragated and not linked specifically to you. It is the law that you fill it out and tell will come and bother you if you don't. The reason they ask these certain questions is for things like road planning, water planning, etc, etc. These questions are not for reapportionment. They have been authorized by Congress and there are penalties for non-compliance. Personally, I would fill it out because I wouldn't want the Census Department workers coming to visit me.

In terms of insurance, I have no clue what kind of insurances are available in Japan. However, I do know that in Europe, the insurance was available from the bank. We got very affordable travel and medical evacuation insurance which cost something like $150 a year for our entire family and any vacations we took or any kind of travel. It also covered our car breaking down, evacuation costs if you are on a trip and a disaster or political event happens, etc. I thought it was much more reasonable than various policies I had in the US. You might chekc to see if they have something similar in Japan.

Well usually you do one book per month or a unit of poetry or short stories. I used ABEKA for one year in the upper grades. I found the readings okay but the questions boring. I have designed a British Lit reading course I am using for my dd and it is a bit different since I don't give her a full month on all readings and a few I give five weeks. But she has writing this year in a separate class and normally you read for a certain number of weeks than write and rewrite. There are many lists of good books to read for world lit including the Well Trained Mind, and many sites on the web. Good luck.

I will pray.

My oldest was 16, my second will have either just turned 18 or about to depending on the start date of the college, and my youngest will be 17 and 3/4 if it goes the way she wants (she doesn't want to be 18 and 3/4).

We went to a shower for a later child of our army chaplain. We were all overseas and I don't think they were expecting this one. Their youngest was ten or 11 and I am so certain they didn't bring baby items overseas even if they still had some in storage, unavailable to them until they moved back. It was not given by them but by one of the attendees of the chapel. I hadn't had nor have I been invited to a second or third or whatever number other than first baby shower. I did receive some gifts after the birth with numbers two and three.

I do not expect any of my children to take care of me in my old age. My expectations for my children are not to be dependent on me past college. Do I want them to call and visit? Yes, but that will be a joint decision. I don't want to be intrusive in their lives.

Is this a puppy? IF so, they take as much care as a newborn human but for a much shorter time. Also, don't have her be allowed to poop and pee on the floor. Take her out very frequently and crate her in a fairly small crate. That is the best way to housetrain. However, if you don't like her and think you and your daughter are allergic, I would see about returning the dog or finding her a new home.

My son entered school early and graduated early so I wasn't talking about myself when I said that having a bored maybe angry 19yo still in high school may not be all that great. If someone is homeschooling, I think they should have their child learn at the rate that is best for the child. No reason to think that just because a child takes a bit longer to start reading that they can't finish up by age 18. We don't actually have to do 13 years of school (K-12)

First of all, I haven't met any and I have homeschooled in 6 states and one other country. I have met unschoolers or very relaxed homeschoolers and their kids were doing great- one entered high school and was accepted into the highly selective IB program, another entered the AF Academy, others were younger but were all bright kids with bright parents who actually encouraged learning. But although I have been homeschooling for 15 or 16years, I think the reason I haven't met these imposters is that they usually fall into two types of categories and neither of these go to homeschool park days or meetings. The first category is families with problems- be it drugs, mental health issues, alcohol, criminal behavior, etc. I don't have contact with those type of people normally so I haven't encountered those who do claim they homeschool. The other category is dropout teens or almost dropputs. I think there will be more and more of these as the dropout age rises. I met someone once whose son had dropped out and she was asking could she homeschool him or how to get a GED. I advised her but if she tires and he doesn't respond, is she an imposter? I don't think so. The teen problem should be ignored by the officials, IMO, since I think dropout ages should be no higher than 16. The first category, often needs social service or criminal justice system intervention but for much more pressing reasons than poor homeschooling.

My youngest dd has a non life threatening peanut problem. SHe gets massive diarrhea but no anaphalaxis. She was able to talk about how she can't have peanuts from around 4. But that was easier, I think, than food dye. Also, it was a major hassle to her, not just to her parents so I think she was more concerned that she might otherwise be.

I think it is a really bad idea. Maybe they don't see the 18 and 19 year olds in high school. I do. It is more likely to be boys. While they may not be as mature as the girls at the same age, there is no way these adult males should be in high school. I have two right now in my class. One is definitely bored, too old to play with the other kids and certainly smart enough to be in college right now. The older is stuck doing high school while his family is facing crisis after crisis. I can see on his face how much he would rather be working and helping the family through the enormous problems they have. No one ever wants to think about what happens if their child has problems. How about this one- if they are held back and decided to drop out at 16, instead of being in 11th or tenth grade, there is a possibility of them being in 9th grade. Yikes. Also you lose your legal ability to control your child when they turn 18. That means you can't legally force them to do anything including go to the doctor or counseling, take their medication, abide by family rules, etc. You have only one option- have them leave the house or take away privileges. But just as you have no more obligation to support them, they have no obligation to obey you.

Does this mean the same as official transcript and can you do this at home? We were looking into University of Alabama with their honors program but do not want to consider them any longer if my dd would have to get a GED.

I am teaching Government as a one semester course since that was what it was in my high school, in Fl and in VA.